As part of the activities of the Regional Vice President of the Americas and the Caribbean Region, Werner Ovalle, Director General of Customs and Superintendent of Customs of the Superintendency of Tax Administration of Guatemala, held a virtual meeting on August 20, 2020 with Ricardo Treviño Chapa, Deputy Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), the international organization reported.
The meeting was also attended by general directors and representatives of members from the region such as: Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, Peru, United States and Uruguay, according to him official statement.
During the meeting, the Deputy Secretary General of the WCO recounted some of the actions that the WCO Secretariat was carrying out during the COVID-19 crisis in line with the following three main objectives of the Strategic Plan of the Organization, to know:
- (i) development of international standards, which involve work in electronic commerce, contingency plans in crisis situations and review of the Basic Guide for the management of high-risk products, among other topics to be discussed during the upcoming virtual work sessions;
- (ii) Customs to Customs Cooperation, which involves operations led by the WCO with the support of WCO Members; and
- (iii) capacity building, in pursuit of a virtual approach and the required investment, infrastructure and connectivity, together with the need to update the expert accreditation system, among other aspects, that this process entails.
The Vice-President highlighted the work carried out by the WCO during the COVID-19 crisis and called for an open dialogue among the participants, highlighting the actions carried out in the field of regional integration through the development of initiatives, virtual programmes to promote knowledge and strengthen the WCO tools and capacity building for customs administrations.
The importance of e-commerce
The Participating Customs Directors exchanged experiences and highlighted the importance of cross-border e-commerce as a tool to promote the economic recovery of the countries in the region, thus providing the opportunity to share best practices adopted by the WCO in this field.
Among other strategic actions, the monitoring of the OAS Mutual Recognition Agreements, in which 11 Customs administrations from the region participate, also plays an important role in economic recovery, as well as strengthening the coordination and action plans of the Regional Capacity Building Bureau (ROCB) and Regional Training Centres (RTC), ensuring the accreditation of experts from the region, promoting technical cooperation between Customs administrations and providing support to the Regional Private Sector Group (RPSG). Participants also agreed to continue promoting the use of the Spanish language in the working bodies of the WCO.
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